Buckeye Outpost

I must admit that I was surprised at how well Braxton Miller ran last weekend and I was equally surprised at how little passing was actually displayed.   I realize that they were trying to ease him into the QB role, but it would have been nice to develop a rhythm for both him and the dropsie wide receivers we have.  While this strategy will work against Colorado, it won't do much for any team in the Big12.  We got to get a passing game established or it will be a very long year.  Of the guys suspended, Posey is really the only guy we desperately need back.  We need his presence to open things up for the other receivers and Stoneburner.  If we can somehow beat MSU, we should be in much better shape.

The Oline was opening wide holes for the entire running game and there really wasn't a reason to throw.  The last time we saw holes this big was against Akron and we know how good a team they are.  I think this was more a function of how bad Colorado is and not how good our Oline played.

I am especially concerned about the defense now.  We have had way to many missed tackles over the first few games and this is quite uncharacteristic of a OSU defense.  We haven't really been dominating the line as much as in years past and you begin to wonder if Williams and Simon are as good as advertised. 

Overall,  the MSU game is critical for this team.  A victory will demonstrate that we can overcome adversity.  A loss will most likely cost Fickel his job.  Because more losses are sure to follow.

Technorati Tags: Adversity, Big12, Games, Holes, Last Time, Losses, New Era, Oline, Osu Defense, Passing Game, Posey, Presence, Reason, Rhythm, Running Game, Shape, Stoneburner, Tackles, Victory, Wide Receivers

Tags: Adversity, Big12, Games, Holes, Last Time, Losses, New Era, Oline, Osu Defense, Passing Game, Posey, Presence, Reason, Rhythm, Running Game, Shape, Stoneburner, Tackles, Victory, Wide Receivers// Category Announcements // Add Comment »

In the lack of spirit displayed last weekend, I am limiting my comments to 4 points to equal the total number of completions from our pathetic passing game.

1) Pick a QB and stick with him.  Brax is the future,  if he really is Bauserman's equal, go with the future.  We need someone who is going to win the game, not manage it.

2) Get rid of the dropsies.  Way too many dropped balls from the receiving corp.  Someone has to step up and get separation and make some plays.

3) Fire Bollman.  Read any one of my blogs from the last 4 years and you will know why. Underachieving O-line, vanilla offense, no creativity.

4) Get the ball into the hands of a playmaker.  Wait, we don't have one.

Technorati Tags: Balls, Blogs, Completions, Creativity, Passing Game, Playmaker, Qb, Spirit, Vanilla

Tags: Balls, Blogs, Completions, Creativity, Passing Game, Playmaker, Qb, Spirit, Vanilla// Category Announcements // 1 Comment »

Well, what an off season this has been! The scandal which rocked OSU is almost in the rear view mirror. Lost is our Hall of Fame Coach and now many questions need answers. I think for all of us, Saturday's game was a welcome relief. Now football is back and a new era has begun!
That said, there was some good and bad in Saturday's victory. Unfortunately for us, the worse case scenario has occurred on offense. Jim Bollman appears to be calling the offensive plays. The same knucklehead that has been responsible for our underachieving offense lines during the Tressel era is till here! We thought that Tress was conservative in his play calling. This guy makes Tress looks very aggressive. Numerous times during the game both Urban Meyer and Chris Spielman would say "This is the time to take a shot downfield". Each and everytime they would say this, Bollman would run it up the middle. I know he was trying to establish a run game, but none of our backs even reached 100 yards. This is against probably the worse team in all of Division I last year. None of our backs appeared to be able to break a large gainer. Let me be the first to say, we will go nowhere on offense with Bollman at the helm.
The other disappointing aspect of the offense on Saturday was the lack of speed at wide receiver. Until we get Posey back, we are going to be in trouble at receiver for these remaining 4 games. I think Miami will be able to show us how lacking we are on speed.
The QB situation appears to me to be a juxtaposition of where Fickle is wrt to his coaching situation. He has to win and win big this year to save his job. He can't afford a subpar rebuilding season. This is the only reason I think Bauserman is even in the picture at QB. He appears to herky jerky to me at the QB position. It looks forced and I think it's gonna kill us early. We need to go with the very bright future of Braxton Miller. He impresses me with his poise, quickness and canon of an arm. we need to invest in the future of the program, for the good of the program.
Stoneburner appears to be the lynchpin on offense. Hopefully, we will continue to ride this horse much like wisconsin did I few years back. He will open things up for the rest of the offense.
I did see something in Roddy Smith at RB. He reminds me of a trimmed down Eddie George. He even fumbled within the 5 yard line like George did when he was a Freshman.

The defense looks quite impressive to me. I love how Fickle is putting his stamp on the team by calling the defensive plays. (I just wish he had a competent offensive coordinator to counter him!) I saw aggression in the defense which seemed to be lacking last year. My only real worry is whether our secondary can cover dominant receivers when all this blitzing is occuring.
I was worried whether Fickle would try and be more like Tressel and not have his own stamp on the team. I don't have that worry yet. He does appear to have his own style. I just wish he would get a new offensive coordinator!

Technorati Tags: Bollman, Bolman, Bright Future, Chris Spielman, Gainer, Hall Of Fame, Jim Bollman, Juxtaposition, Knucklehead, Lack Of Speed, Poise, Posey, Qb Position, Qb Situation, Quickness, Rear View, Run Game, Subpar, Urban Meyer, Welcome Relief, Wide Receiver, Worse Case Scenario

Tags: Bollman, Bolman, Bright Future, Chris Spielman, Gainer, Hall Of Fame, Jim Bollman, Juxtaposition, Knucklehead, Lack Of Speed, Poise, Posey, Qb Position, Qb Situation, Quickness, Rear View, Run Game, Subpar, Urban Meyer, Welcome Relief, Wide Receiver, Worse Case Scenario// Category Announcements // Add Comment »

In the spirit of this weeks bye, it's a good time to focus on why it's time to say bye to the Bucks.   in the last two weeks, the Bucks have looked dominant in all aspects of the game.  You really couldn't see any weaknesses in the game and we were up big by the half in each game.  past deficiencies in the running game and secondary on the defense were not apparent the last few weeks.  We looked like a team with something to prove.  Of course, it's too late for this season.  The pollsters are showing their Buckeye bias and we have been passed up by just about every 1 loss team in the country and sit solidly at #11 in the BCS.

Any hopes we may have had of playing in the Natty are bye.  The way things are stacked against us, we'd need BSU or TCU to lose before we stand a chance of returning.  The only way we can hope to pass Wisconsin is for them to stumble or struggle against any of their three remaining inferior foes and for us to soundly destroy Iowa at home followed by a whipping of Michigan.  For the same reason, hopes of returning to the Rose Bowl are bye as well.  We most likely can look forward to a trip to the Capital One Bowl.

If you were looking for a reloading next year and had Natty aspirations, those are most likely bye for next year as well.  List of starters which are bye bye next year are:

Sanzenbacher

Boren

Torrence

Chekwa

Saine

Hines

Barclay

Rolle

Homan

Miller

Browning

Larrimore

Heyward

Most likely, Pryor and Posey are both bye bye as well.  This leaves us pretty much decimated across the board.  Sure, we'll have people step in and have a great incoming class, but with the inclusion of Nebraska into the Big11 and a Conference Championship Game, things do not look great for us next year.  If you look at things, Illinois and MSU are on the rise as well as UM (can't get any worse for them). 

In a nutshell, OSU football has a long winding road ahead of them before we can even think of getting back into the national picture again.  For now, it's bye bye buckeye.

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Tags: Aspirations, Barclay, Bcs, Bias, Boren, Bsu, Buckeye, Bye Bye, Capital One, Capital One Bowl, Conference Championship Game, Deficiencies, Foes, Good Time, Homan, Incoming Class, Larrimore, Long Winding Road, Nutshell, Pollsters, Posey, Rose Bowl, Running Game, Spirit, Tcu, Torrence, Whipping// Category Announcements // Add Comment »

Well folks, it wasn't pretty by any means. From the get go, we were in trouble and before you knew it we were down 21-0 and reeling from the beating we were taken by UW. Herein lies the problem with Tressel ball, it isn't designed to overcome huge deficits. It's predicated on defense and special teams and we had neither last Saturday.

I was surprised by 2 items: how poorly the defense played and how well the offensive line run blocked. You've heard me harping all year about our lack of a push off the offensive line. It appeared that the Oline finally received the memo and started to make some holes. Of course, we didn't establish this until the second half and we had to abandon it to try and score some points.

The inability to score on our two opportunities in the first half doomed us. If you intercept a pass in the opponents territory and you are down by 3 scores, you have to capitalize on it. that right there probably sealed the game for us.

The defense flat out got whipped by Wisconsin. They were knocking our highly rated Dline on their collective asses. If you think about it, they have neither played or practiced against an Oline that can run block. Day in and day out they face our Oline which can only pass block. This causes complacency. Our Dline just was in no way prepared to handle this onslaught.

Any chance of a National Championship showing are gone. The best we can hope for is a Big 10 title at this point. We have to wait and see how things fall with MSU, Iowa and Wisconsin. Based on what we've seen, we were never a number 1 team to begin.

Technorati Tags: Books, Collective Asses, Complacency, Dline, Game, Holes, Last Saturday, Msu, National Championship, Number 1, Offensive Line, Oline, Onslaught, Opponents, Score, Second Half

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Well folks it's do or die time for the 2010 Buckeyes!  We are #1 heading into Camp Randall for a night game against a pretty good Wisconsin team.  This has all the makings for a dissapointment.  I don't mind being #1, but we just aren't playing like a #1 team and that can mean a lot of trouble.

Face it, we are a passing team.  I think the UI game was Pryor's best performance.  Granted he could have read a book with all the time to throw, but he made some nice decisions, didn't have to scramble and was very efficient.  Most importantly, he didn't need to use his legs to win the game.  Look for him to have to do that to beat UW this weekend. 

This is the time of the year when Tress usually starts to adapt his teams to their yearly strengths.  It's obvious that he has become pass oriented.  He's found a way to utilize Saine as a receiver and it just creates nightmares for opposing defenses.  He's also looking to get Boren and the tightend more into the game.   When Stoneburner returns, it should pay dividends.  Our Oline is far better at moving back for pass blocking then for pushing off the line of scrimmage.  I still think you can't win a Natty without a running game (or win the Big10) and it's going to bite us sooner or later. 

Our defense shut down a really good UI offense.  The corner were especially impressive as they UI aerial attack is one of the best in the country (to date).  You just get the feeling that it's going to be hard to score on them.  They are still weak in the middle of the field, so we can't get too confident.

I'm looking at this Saturday as defing the rest of the season for us.  I don't know if we have enough on Offense to win this game, as UW will look to dominate the time of possession with their running game.   I expect this to be a low scoring affair.  Special team play may kill us this weekend, so pray for no let downs.

Technorati Tags: Aerial Attack, Best Performance, Big10, Boren, Buckeyes, Camp Randall, Decisions, Dissapointment, Dividends, Heading, Legs, Line Of Scrimmage, Night Game, Nightmares, Oline, Possession, Running Game, Team Play, Tightend, Wisconsin Team

Tags: Aerial Attack, Best Performance, Big10, Boren, Buckeyes, Camp Randall, Decisions, Dissapointment, Dividends, Heading, Legs, Line Of Scrimmage, Night Game, Nightmares, Oline, Possession, Running Game, Team Play, Tightend, Wisconsin Team// Category Announcements // Add Comment »

Yup, you heard me Pryor should be the league MVP.  If they actually awarded that honor, I think everyone would agree that no one player is as valuable to his team as Pryor.  This was painfully evident last weekend when he left the game.  The entire offense came to a grinding halt.  The already nonexistent running attack was feeble (until the end of the game) and Bauserman left little doubt who the number one QB on the team is.  Even hobbled, Pryor was better then Bauserman.  That said, Pryor is not a Heisman trophy candidate by any stretch.  He is still far too rough to be considered the best player in college football.  I wouldn't even have him in the top 10.

There was a glimmer of hope when midway through the 4th quarter the offensive line and Heron started to take over the game.  He was gashing the Illini defense for 10 yard carries right down to the goal line.  The best part was that everyone in the stadium knew we were going to run it because Pryor could barely walk and they couldn't stop us.  Maybe, just maybe this is the wakeup call the Oline has needed or maybe Illinois was that bad.  We have one game and one game only to get this worked out before we hit Wisconsin, who is going to be pretty pumped since they lost to MSU.  On this note, it is time for me to make my yearly proclamation:  Fire Bollman, please.  This guy has got to be the worse Oline coach ever and he somehow stays on year after year and gets raises to boot.  All he has ever brought to this team is underachievement of what should be a very good Oline. 

We need to start being very concerned about our safeties.  The loss of Moeller is huge.  He already loss Barnett and now add Moeller to the list and we are thin and inexperienced at this position.  Look for teams to start exploiting this in the very near future.  If there is a weakness on this defense, it'll be in the middle of the field.

Not seeing much improvement on kick coverages.  This has almost bitten us in the past and looks like it'll bite us hard in the future.   You can't win championships, if you can't cover kicks and run the ball.

Technorati Tags: 4th Quarter, Barnett, Best Player, Coach, College Football, Doubt, Glimmer Of Hope, Goal Line, Grinding Halt, Heisman Trophy Candidate, Heron, League Mvp, Moeller, Offensive Line, Oline, Qb, Running Attack, Safeties, Wakeup Call, Yup

Tags: 4th Quarter, Barnett, Best Player, Coach, College Football, Doubt, Glimmer Of Hope, Goal Line, Grinding Halt, Heisman Trophy Candidate, Heron, League Mvp, Moeller, Offensive Line, Oline, Qb, Running Attack, Safeties, Wakeup Call, Yup// Category Announcements // Add Comment »

I'm sorry but this "victory" hasn't done anything to make me feel good about this year's team.  In fact, I maintain we are worse this year than last.  Pryor "managed" the game well, but I still feel he is only an above average QB at best, not Heisman material.   He truly is best when a play breaks apart and he has to improvise. He doesn't throw the ball consistently well enough and his deep balls have too much air under them. 

I mean come on Tress, everyone in the entire known universe knows what you are going to call on 3rd downs, you aren't fooling anyone with QB draw play!  We've been running this play since we won the Natty and that really only worked then because it was the best option.  We've got to be more creative on 3rd down calls.  5/6 field goals isn't going to win us a Natty this year or any year.  We've got to be able to punch it in within the 10 yard line against quality teams.

Face it, Herron and Saine are great  3rd down change of pace backs, they are not featured backs.  We don't have a viable plan B for when Pryor has an off game and he will have bad game or two this year.  Miami successfully stuffed our RB's throughout most of the game showing that our O-line still has some growing to go and our backs just can't make things happen.

Overall, Miami's speed was impressive.  This game was more about Miami's miscues then OSU's dominance.  If you take out the special teams play and our ineffectiveness to punch it in, this would be an impressive victory for OSU.  We just have too much growing to do to make it as a contender. 

Losing Barnett is huge.  We do have Johnson to back him up (he was the starter earlier this year), but we have no depth at safety and this appears to be the weak point in our defense.  We've got 4 games to get some experience before we hit Wisconsin.

I still think we drop 1-2 games this year.  It appears we are too 1 dimensional on offense and teams can short pass us down the field to score.  I always hope I am wrong and will eat some crow in January.

Technorati Tags: Bad Game, Balls, Barnett, Change Of Pace, Contender, Dominance, Face, Field Goals, Games, Impressive Victory, Osu, Plan B, Punch, Qb, Quality Teams, Rb, Universe, Viable Plan, Weak Point

Tags: Bad Game, Balls, Barnett, Change Of Pace, Contender, Dominance, Face, Field Goals, Games, Impressive Victory, Osu, Plan B, Punch, Qb, Quality Teams, Rb, Universe, Viable Plan, Weak Point// Category Announcements, Buckeye News // 1 Comment »

Regardless of anything else I might write in this posting, this is the best opening performance I've seen from a Tressel lead Buckeye Team.  This was a ginormous victory when you consider that Tressel views a 28-7 score as a blowout.  We definitely came ready to play and there was a lot more working then not working.  Also uncharacteristic of a Tressel team, was the poor play of the special team units.   Normally that is the only thing which goes right in our first game.  Giving Tressel's track record for special teams, this will be straightened quickly and hopefully a nonconcern moving forward.

As you know from my writing, everything starts and ends with TP.  Our paradox of savior and nemesis appeared to be the former in this game.  I remain skeptical that he has improved enough to take us to the Natty.  As always, there were some nice throws where only the receiver could get it and there were some "what the hell is he thinking"  throws to keep you worried.  This night the nice plays outweighed the bad by far.  Unfortunately, Pryor had all night to throw the ball (with the exception of one play where he was forced to throw off balance into coverage) and wasn't really tested.  It's that one play which keeps one worried.  He will have pressure next week and will need to make quick decisons and that is his one major weakness.  The Miami dbacks are one of their weaknesses, so maybe he'll have a repeat of the Rose Bowl.   I still don't see the progression from last year where he's shown he is Heisman caliber.  Hopefully, we'll see this moving forward.

Saine does look like he earned the title of starter and showed his speed as being difficult to handle in the open field.  He definitely doesn't have the size to bruise or show he can "make holes", but his speed makes up for it when he has an open hole.  I was also impressed with Berry, he showed both speed and "hole making" ability and it will be interesting to see how he much playing time he gets moving forward. 

The Oline looks much better this year compared to last year's opener.  It's hard to tell if this is related to the quality of the opponent or is true improvement.  This should be one of our better lines in years with many new faces added.

The only two issues I have with the defense are lack of pressure on the QB and apparent holes deep in the middle of the field.  I know Marshall had a quick strike offense, so that probably offset the apparent lack of pressure by our D line.  Getting Nathan Williams back should improve our pressure and depth on the line.  Our starting safeties allowed a lot of crossing patterns to work for large gains and that has to be a concern for the defense moving forward.  Tyler Moeller is a linebacker playing safety and looks like a beast. 

Everything still hinges on TP's performance.  Saine still doesn't look like a back who can take over a game and the only way to get the ball to our very talented receiving corp is through Pryor.  Maybe down the road Berry will develop into something special, but it wouldn't be till much later this year or next.  I am still more than a little worried about the safetys and hope they'll be able to produce some INTs next week against UM.  For the 4th year in a row,  our Natty chances rest on our performance in the 2nd game of the year.  I was very pleasantly surprised by our defensive play last year against SC and UM isn't SC.  Everything really rests on whether Pryor lays an egg again in a big game.

Technorati Tags: Blowout, Caliber, Dbacks, Decisons, First Game, First Impressions, Hell, Holes, Nemesis, Open Hole, Paradox, Playing Time, Plays, Rose Bowl, Savior, Score, Victory

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It really seems like last Fall when expectations were so high for the Buckeyes and everyone was convinced that Terrelle Pryor had progressed over the offseason to become that special player everyone thinks he is.  We thought that Tressel could work his magic like he did with Troy Smith and we'd all be toasting another Natty.  We quickly learned that Pryor had regressed and appeared robotic and clouded with too much thought in both the USC and Purdue games.  The national media all cites the "special" performance Pryor had in the Rose Bowl and how that can only bring him to greener pastures this year.  Unfortunately, it may have all gone to his head (as it did last year).  Read my last posting, if you want my impressions on the Rose Bowl.  It looks like there's too much hype again this year behind Pryor.

That said, this year's team my actually be slightly worse then last year's.  We've lost defensive linemen as well as our safeties.  Our receiving corp is depleted with the surprising losses of Carter and Thomas and our running game has depth, but no special backs.  The strength of the team will remain the defense and all of our hopes on offense lie with Pryor.

The problem and solution is that all of our hopes lie in the mind and ability of Pryor.   I'm guessing that we lose one game this year because of lack of discipline on offense.  He'll have another Purdue game and, since our backs are average, we'll have no one to bail him out on offense.  Therein lies the problem when all of our offense really keys on Pryor.  

There does appear to be some encouraging (or discouraging) news in the announced two deeps for Thursday night's game.  Many freshman are showing up.  This bodes well for our future, but doesn't say much for some of our middle classmen. 

In any event, my gues is we go 11-1 (with a silly loss to someone like Purdue) and are on the outside looking in again on the Natty.  I also think Pryor will have another disappointing season making him one of the biggest busts in OSU history.  Here's hoping I'll be eating some crow in 4 months....

Technorati Tags: Bigg, Buckeyes, Deeps, Defensive Linemen, Discipline, Freshman, Greener Pastures, Gues, Hype, Impressions, Offseason, Purdue Game, Purdue Games, Rose Bowl, Running Game, Safeties, Terrelle Pryor, Thursday Night, Troy Smith, Usc

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